Sins forgiven, Hope reborn
by MissSwissish
Summary: Jethro has a new classmate, Susan Foreman, a strange girl with no memory of her life, but with one ambition: find her grandfather. Will he ever be forgiven for what almost happened so long ago? Can Susan find what she's looking for, before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**OK, normally I wouldn't approve of writing two fics at once, but this has been brewing for a while, and so...**

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><p>Jethro stared at the new girl as she sat down. She was stunningly pretty. Shimmering gold hair, leather jacket and strange blue-green eyes that seemed to change shade every time he looked. Her posture was arrow straight, yet her body was curvaceous. He wasn't the only one. The boys were ogling, some were drooling, and even one who had come out about being gay 5 years ago looked smitten. The couple of lesbians were also eyeing her with interest, but the rest of the girls were glaring daggers at her enviously.<p>

All previous attraction Jethro had felt was lost in the repulsion he held now for his classmates. He hated his entire species. The way they acted so knowledgeable and empathic yet could act like cold hearted monsters. The way an innocent man could die just because he was different. Because, ironically, the alien acted the most human of all of them, it was he who had tried to help, he who insisted that the newcomer didn't necessarily mean harm. Humans, all lust, rage, fear, trying to rationalize the inexcusable. The new girl had no idea of the rivalry she'd sparked. He could hear the more popular boys calling dibs, and he almost gagged.

"Sir?" Jethro looked around, not recognising the voice. He mentally berated himself, of course he wouldn't, it was the new girl speaking.

"I think there's a problem with my workbook"

"Oh, and why's that?"

Jethro detested this teacher, he had a way of making everyone feel like idiots, and a knack of explaining in a way that nobody could comprehend. The new girl was going to be presented as a dumb blond and everyone would guffaw like buffoons. It had grown tiresome, but had recently become almost intolerable.

"Surely it's not possible to determine the position of an object without 5 coordinates?"

"Come now Susan, the universe we occupy has only 4 dimensions, height, length, width and time, what would you suggest the fifth be?"

"Space."

"Don't be ridiculous child, as far as I'm aware, you have understood the question and just want to draw attention to yourself. There are four dimensions, of which we are studying the first three. Now please get back to your work and don't bother me again."

"But sir..."

"Enough, I said!"

Susan was quiet for the rest of the lesson. When she handed in the sheet, though, the look on the teacher's face was priceless. It transpired that Susan had not only completed the entire workbook, with the correct answers every single time, but had also drawn, with schematics, labels and equations, a working model for a five dimensional universe, complete with notes on how this was more accurate than the widely accepted 4D version.

She was, it turned out, a whizz at everything, though seemed to get on the nerves of every teacher within 5 min. In chemistry, she refused to mix the liquids on account she was allergic and insisted she leave the class before anyone else did. History, she argued that the textbook was inaccurate and she'd had the physics teacher in tears when she'd proclaimed that his latest paper, published to great acclaim, was fundamentally flawed in no less than 6 places.

When admirers approached her in the playground, full of false admiration for her exploits, she appeared to have no recollection whatsoever of the morning's teachings. She sat and rubbed her temples, face scrunched up as if she had a migraine.

And so it continued, In English she corrected the teacher's grammar, Geography she drew the entire empire from memory, with the stellar battle sites marked clearly. The Politics teacher had evidently been warned and set her an essay, one that the other's would have sweated on for weeks, and still she had finished before the bell had rung.

It was in Biology that she slipped up though. It was revision, so everyone knew what they were doing. Their task was to draw the cardiovascular system, Nothing too challenging. Everyone had a more or less accurate drawing...except for Susan. She had drawn two hearts on her sketch. The arteries, veins and chambers were all there neatly labelled, but there were two hearts. The entire class were in fits of laughter, mocking the girl as she confusedly stated that she thought that everyone had two hearts. Jethro looked on, pity swelling in his chest as the girl went from beauty to nerd to the scorn of the school. The biology teacher, smirking, had taken her pulse and declared that she had one heart just like the rest of the human populace. Susan had apologised meekly and had followed the lesson without another word. Luckily for her, it was the last for the day, so her classmates couldn't take advantage of the infallible Susan's newfound weakness.

Susan was always to last to arrive for school, coming in just as the bell rang, every time. She was the first to leave, never making conversation with anyone, she sat alone, rubbing her temples and shook off any concern (not that there was much) by being vacant and distracted. She was the top of every class, but after the biology incident, she was a lot more careful and less outspoken. The most popular boys had asked her out within a week, but she had politely told them no. As time went on those lower down the social ranks plucked up the courage, but were met with no more success than the first. The rumours that she was a lesbian didn't last long, as it became clear that whatever her sexuality, she wasn't interested in dating.

It was a Friday when it happened. They were looking at ancient writings in Languages and the teacher was chuffed to show them a picture of what was thought to be the oldest cliff face in the universe with writing that would be, when deciphered, the oldest script ever recorded. Susan took one look at the image and froze. Jethro was the first one to notice, and he discreetly threw his pencil at her, unfortunately the teacher turned around at the wrong moment.

"Mr Cane, would you please go and sit outside, but first apologise to Ms Foreman."

"But sir,"

"Now, Mr Cane, apologise and leave"

"But look at her!"

Jethro lunged forward. Susan didn't bat an eyelid. Her eyes were glassy and she was doing a perfect imitation of a statue. Well, almost perfect, Jethro corrected himself. Her right hand was shaking, just a slight tremor, and she was mumbling, so quietly that Jethro could hear the sounded, but not distinguish words of phrases. The teacher, instead of trying to help, moved back, staring. Jethro clicked his fingers in front of her nose. No response. When he shook her shoulders slightly, her hands went up to cover her ears and she cowered in her seat. The rest of the class had edged away and the teacher was tugging at Jethro's coat, trying to make him do the same. Jethro hardly registered this as Susan began rocking back and forth; her mumbles were now sobs of pain.

_Where are we, he's not here, the seal is breaking, we can't get out, we can't, too early, he's not here!_

Her screams were becoming hysterical, she was clutching at her hair, as if she wanted to tear it out.

_Find him! Find..._

Jethro caught her as she fell. Ignoring the whispers of his classmates, he carried her to the nurse.

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><p>Susan made a lot of fuss when she woke up; she had no recollection of the incident, As far as she was aware, she had been a split second away from looking at the image of the cliff. Jethro told the nurse he'd look after her, he didn't know why he said it, it was more like: he heard himself say it, but didn't consciously decide to. She refused to let him take her to a hospital, saying all she needed was to find her grandfather. Jethro's ears pricked up at this:<p>

"But you said you couldn't remember anything."

"I can't, but I still have to find him"

"But why..."

"I don't know, I just do."

It happened again when they were studying myths in History, something about the Darlecks? And then when hypothesising about an extremely powerful race that kept the fledgling empires in check. It went on, but Susan would never see a Doctor, always asking for celery and tea and insisting she find her grandfather. Each time she stayed unconscious for slightly longer and each time it was Jethro who dragged her to the nurse. He preferred it this way; he didn't have to look at his classmates faces. No one could find a link to why she seemed to have these fits, and one time the maths teacher told them all to ignore her, as she was just seeking attention. In the end, she'd fallen into a coma and had to be hospitalized for an entire week, much to her dismay, and the teacher was now facing disciplinary action.

Jethro didn't feel sorry for him, it was obvious she wasn't faking and ignoring the problem because it was inconvenient just made it worse. After Midnight, his parents never talked about what happened, they changed the subject every time or threatened him with therapy. They flatly denied any responsibility and as time went on, Jethro felt himself drift further and further away. He was disillusioned with the entire human race. Nobody ever did anything out of kindness, because it was good. They always had an ulterior motive.

Finally Jethro cracked. He purposefully waited for Susan to arrive at the school gates and seized her wrist as she walked past. The timing was perfect, the bell had just rung and with all the students jostling to get in, Susan and Jethro could slip away unnoticed. But what Jethro hadn't banked on, was Susan putting up a fight. Sure a hissed protest, and/or her trying to wrench her arm away, but Susan was an ace fighter – another gift to add to the brains and beauty. Quite by accident, Jethro hit her left shoulder and her eyes widened almost comically, and for a moment Jethro thought she was having another fit – until she fainted. Susan unconscious was now so common that nobody took a second glance, let alone offered assistance (not that that had happened before-but it was possible). So it was all too easy to bundle her into his car and drive to the nearest hospital. Using his car was unusual for him. He took the bus as much as he could; his parents had installed a tracker in his car. But, desperate times and all, taking public transport would raise far too many questions.

Susan stirred just as they arrived. Jethro immediately made to keep her from jumping out the car, but was surprised when she sighed and gave him the: this-is-completely-useless-but-I'll-humour-you-because-I-know-it's-the-easiest-way-to-get-you-off-my-case look. Unbuckling, she nodded towards the hospital as if to say: well, this is why we came isn't it? Jethro escorted her in, certain something was up, that she'd do a runner, something. He could barely believe it when the doctor had announced that there was nothing wrong with her. He had hinted that she would need to see a psychiatatrists, in case she had repressed memories that were being triggered. Jethro didn't like how the doctor was looking at Susan, but didn't say anything. If he was going to get jealous at every male who looked at her like that, there would be little room in his life for any other emotion. Added to that Susan was asexual, for want of a better definition for the way she reacted to that sort of thing.

What was he thinking? Why did he have to fall for the only person in the universe who would never ever ever ever look at him twice?

"Take me out for lunch?" Susan asked suddenly. They were halfway back. Where? Home? Jethro shuddered, his parents would throw a fit if they knew he'd been skiving. School? No, going back would draw more attention than if they stayed absent. He'd actually been hoping that she'd direct him to her place, he hardly knew anything about her and seeing as he was going to so much trouble to keep her sane and healthy, he felt he should know more about who he was caring for. Pulling over at one of the less shady cafés, he held out a hand to help her out of the car.

"I'm not delicate!" Susan snapped, irritably. Remembering how she'd punched him earlier, Jethro winced. "Sorry about that." Susan muttered, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

Again, Jethro was surprised about how talkative Susan became once they'd sat down. She showered him with questions, barely leaving time for him to reply before moving on. She loved to guess the answers as well, most of the time she was way off, but she hit the mark bang on enough times for it to be unnerving. Jethro was left wondering, after one of her more outlandish theories, whether she actually knew, like could read his mind, but lied to make him feel more comfortable. When they'd exhausted almost every subject about himself, Jethro tried to interrogate Susan the same way, only to be met with a sad smile.

"I can't remember most of my past. I know I have a grandfather, I know he's looking for me, 'cause he promised he'd come back. I know my parents are dead. I know my name. But not much more, I don't even know which planet I was born on."

Jethro was intrigued. Susan was by far the smartest student, hell the smartest person, in the school. How could she be so ignorant of herself when she knew practically all there was to know? To the point that she didn't even know her own age for certain?

"What happened?" she asked suddenly. Jethro looked up from paying the bill.

"What?"

"Not many people care so much. I've seen how they look at me, I'm the freak. But you...help, I suppose. Again and again and I never thanked you."

Jethro looked up sharply. Now she'd said it, he realised that he didn't want her gratitude. It shouldn't be an incentive to do good. The deed should be done because it was the right thing to do, not so he could shower himself in glory. Her thanks underlined that what he had done was good. There was no need, it should have gone without saying, and it should have been expected of him to help those who needed it. It shouldn't be labelled as good; rather, those who ignored the weak should be labelled as cowards. He should have never wanted her thanks.

She must have seen something in his face and she coaxed it out of him in the car.

"But you need to say thanks to express gratitude..."

"Don't you see? That's what I mean, it shouldn't be a reward system, like a treat you give a dog when it obeys it's master. You needed help so it goes without saying that you should receive it! I don't want your thanks."

Susan stared at him, quite surprised at his outburst. Jethro was suddenly ashamed, he shouldn't have snapped at her like that.

"What was it?" Susan asked again. They had reached Jethro's home now, and he hadn't asked her where she lived. Reluctantly, he related everything that happened on Midnight. Susan was quiet throughout, she didn't interrupt, she didn't judge, she didn't tell him that it wasn't his fault when it was, she listened. All the frustration, loneliness and loathing for himself and everyone else were let out. He had tried to distinguish himself, even back then he was a loner, a rebel, yet when it mattered, he was just like the rest of them, weak, scared and ready to commit murder to save his pathetic excuse for a life. Susan held him as he sobbed. When he calmed down, he was horrified at himself. He had never let anyone see what that holiday had done to him, not entirely. He'd never breathed a word to his closest friends and here he was, crying like a child. Embarrassed he noticed that he'd completely ruined her shirt. His mumbled apologies were silenced when Susan muttered distractedly:

"I'm sure I know this Doctor from somewhere..."

Jethro laughed humourlessly. "No you can't, he's not the sort of person you forget easily."

"No" Susan mused, still thinking hard.

"Come inside, I'm sure there are a few shirts of mine you can borrow." Jethro offered. Susan looked down, as if noticing the tear stains for the first time.

"But...your parents?"

"What about them?" Jethro asked sulkily.

"Won't they be surprised, I mean..." she blushed but Jethro waved off her apology.

Listening intently at the keyhole, Jethro determined that his parents were out, mercifully.

"Beer?" he offered, opening the door and making his way to the kitchen.

"Please," called Susan, pulling open various drawers, trying to find something that wasn't too big. Pulling a dark T-shirt over her head she exited the room and stopped dead.

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><p><strong>What do you think? I think Jethro's character should be used more often, torture him about what he almost did (cuz I'm sadistic that way)<strong>

**I'm not sure whether to include the 10th or 11th Doctor - cause he will have to appear eventually. 10 makes a bigger impact, especially on Biff, Val and Jethro, but 11 is the incumbent Doctor...**

**Review?**

**Swiss.**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Please," called Susan, pulling open various drawers, trying to find something that wasn't too big. Pulling a dark T-shirt over her head she exited the room and stopped dead._

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><p>Val and Biff could hardly believe their eyes. They had returned home from investigating their son's impromptu visit to the hospital – where they were frustrated by a deliberately unhelpful nurse – it didn't help of course that since <em>that holiday<em> they had an inexplicable fear of clinics and medical centres. So anyway, they had returned home, only to find the door ajar and some slut walking out of _their _Jethro's room, wearing Jethro's clothes! Spying their wayward son, the couple immediately put themselves between the two lovebirds to shield him from her amoral ways.

"Mum, what are you _doing_?" Jethro spluttered, almost spilling the cans of beer, his hands were shaking so hard. Susan was looking very much like a deer caught in front of some headlights. Jethro tried not to think about how much he liked how she looked in his clothes, those sorts of thoughts were definitely not helpful.

"What have _you_ been doing, Jethro?" Val replied, her voice shrill, "We come home, to our own house to find..."

"Nothing" Jethro interrupted, "I was inviting a friend round for a drink. You're the ones telling me to live a little."

"Don't talk to your mother like..." Biff began

"A friend?" Val asked disbelievingly, talking over her husband "We followed you to the hospital..."

"That was my fault." Susan cut in. "I wasn't feeling well, and Jethro offered to drive me, seeing as I don't have a car."

"I'm sure he did," Val replied scathingly "With him being the cause of your ..._illness _"

Jethro almost dropped the beer. Was his mother implying that Susan was pregnant? By _him_? Susan had come to the same conclusion and her cheeks were ablaze with fury.

"I wasn't aware that seizures were common symptoms of pregnancy. My condition, as it happens, is hereditary." She glared at Val, eyes cold "Jethro was kind enough to do me a favour, heaven forbid, and was worried enough to drive me to the hospital. And if a friend can't help a friend, I don't know what the human race is coming to."

Jethro was aware that the species barb was inspired from his story, and it seemed to have the desired affect, his parents had backed down, though they still looked at them both disapprovingly. Walking past them to Jethro, Susan took the beer with a nod and announced without turning round

"I'll walk home from here, nice meeting you." Then added, "See you tomorrow Jethro."

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><p>Susan and Jethro became close in the weeks and months that followed. He even seemed to get a feel for when she would collapse. It was getting more and more frequent, up to twice a week. Val and Biff were less and less cold towards her, but Jethro tried to avoid them as much as possible.<p>

One day, he woke to find his mother overly cheerful and to his horror, insisted he bring Susan round for dinner, so that they could be introduced properly. Susan didn't raise any objections. So that day, she was presented to his parents. As friend. Strictly. They were still acting suspiciously joyful.

Over dinner, they questioned her, much like Jethro had done, about her past and were sympathetic towards her plight. Jethro remained unconvinced.

"Well, I don't think, that granddad of yours, left you all alone, it's scandalous..."

"Oh, He thinks I died along with my parents, I need to find him, he deserves to know."

"I see, and what does he do, for a living?"

"He travels, sees the sights. He used to be a diplomat – due to his unique qualities, but mostly just loves an adventure."

Val frowned at this, obviously unimpressed by this wayward wanderer Susan was so desperate to find.

"What's his name?"

"Oh, he never told me, it's a secret, I don't think he told anyone." Susan replied airily. She frowned then added, "He's a Doctor of something, but I just can't..." she fell silent, rubbing her temples, clearly quite upset. Biff decided that the inquisition was over and offered to take her home. Arriving at the place Susan indicated, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about the area. It was a run down part of town, not coming close to the luxury apartment that the Cane Clan inhabited.

"It's a dump, but it's all I can afford." Susan stated, reading his mind perfectly. Biff reluctantly let her go, against his better judgement. This was no place for a teenage girl to be living alone.

A few weeks later, Jethro began noticing bruises and scrapes on her arms. He asked her about them, but she shrugged him off and changed the subject. Until one night, the bell rang at Jethro's apartment. It was a policeman informing them that _Susan Cane_ was in hospital following a street fight.

"Did you know your daughter was out tonight Mrs Cane?" inquired the officer, not waiting for a reply he continued "She saved the life of some poor kid being beaten by a gang of youths, if there hadn't been a knife involved..."

Jethro pushed past his stunned mother before she could stutter out a reply."Where is she?" he demanded, his voice shaking

"Hospital, Intensive care." Jethro was gone before the PC could elaborate.

He saw her as she was wheeled out of the operating theatre. She was in a bad way; knife to the chest and neck, arm badly sliced, a cracked skull and more cracked ribs. It was a miracle that she'd lived with the bleeding, internal and external. It transpired that the gang had a first been targeting her, but then, noticing that she also stood up for the other residents, decided to ambush her. They lured her in with a couple of the gang's younger members openly beating a boy in his mid teens. As predicted, Susan intervened before there was any serious damage. Next thing she knew, she was surrounded, and outnumbered like she was, the best she could do was distract the gang from their other target and hope one of the neighbours had heard the disturbance and called the police.

"I hope you don't mind that I claimed kin, I didn't know what else to say." Susan muttered when she woke up. Jethro wasn't sure how to react, relieved that she would be okay, or anger that she'd been so stupid. It was all too confusing to dissect, so he settled for a grunt and looked away. Biff surprised his son when he offered Susan their spare room to stay in, once she was discharged. Susan smiled her thanks before a nurse rushed on insisting that her patient needed rest. She started fiddling the IV drip, adding another bag to the collection.

"No aspirin?" Susan asked alarmed. Well as alarmed as someone being pumped full of sedatives could be.

"No honey, now just relax..." Susan was out like a light, so there was no point resisting the insistent nurse as she ushered them from the room.

She was discharged a couple of days later. All the doctors were amazed at her progress. She would have returned sooner if they hadn't kept her if for observation after another of her attacks.

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><p>Susan, it turned out, was the daughter Val never had. Jethro couldn't fathom how Susan could stand her. The two had nothing in common, and his mother regularly attacked Susan's grandfather for having left her all alone. She put up with the mother hen act, the pampering and the protectiveness without a hint of anything other than gratitude and happiness. At least he couldn't complain that her presence wasn't welcome, and his grades began improving steadily, thanks to Susan's coaching. But he was more depressed than happy. He had fallen in love. And he was sure that Susan thought of him as a brother. So basically he had no chance. Even worse: her condition had deteriorated, but his parents, and Susan herself refused to admit it.<p>

They had gone to a museum, so Susan could prove a point about some figure from history or something like that. A woman with curly blond hair, holding a small flashing object and a tiny pistol stalked past them and winked at Susan. She froze, Jethro jumped to see if she was okay, but her face was scrunched up, deep in thought, she raised her hands, absently rubbing her temples. A few minutes later, some very angry looking guards ran into the atrium, looking for someone. The blonde woman, obviously.

"I recognise her, somehow. But I'm sure we've never met." Susan murmured distractedly.

Jethro sighed. Susan was a brilliant idiot. She would never move on, never notice _him_, he flinched internally, so long as the past remained a mystery. Yet she refused to acknowledge that there was something wrong with her. If he wanted her to stay, he would have to help her find this grandfather of hers, and hope that she simply wanted to tell her granddad that she was alive, and not leave with him. That sounded desperate even to himself. What was his plan, hope that she would be so grateful for his help that she fell madly in love with him? That was pathetic. It sounded like a soppy romance film. It was all there: Man loves girl but won't admit feelings, check. Girl with no clue of said man's sentiments, check. But aforementioned girl secretly in love with man and dreaming that he would ask her out? He highly doubted it. Susan wasn't the sort.

"How can you recognise someone you've never met?" He asked quickly. Susan looked at him strangely and was subdued for the rest of the trip.

Jethro was reaching the end of his tether. He kept catching glimpses of the woman, again and again. By the tenth sighting, he had had enough. Dragging her aside, and ignoring her flirtatious advances, he inquired whether she knew a Susan Foreman. The woman replied in the affirmative, but refused to do anything other than give him a small hollow cylinder, telling him Susan would recognise it. She cryptically replied 'Spoilers' at any other questions. Jethro reluctantly let her go, disheartened.

He had to admit, Susan had healed him, to a certain extent, of the hatred he held for the human race. Before meeting her, he would probably not have bothered talking to the mystery woman, let alone accept, albeit grudgingly, that she would only help so much. And he kept looking. At every false lead, he got more and more depressed, to the point that Susan and his parents noticed. He saw the mystery woman again, and by now it was getting ridiculous. When he demanded she stop stalking him, the woman merely told him to give the cylinder to Susan. He wasn't sure why he hadn't done it yet, he didn't know how to bring it up. Susan had become less tolerant of his snooping lately.

"It's a grade C DNA tracking device, from the Gamma forests." Susan declared "how'd you get it?"

"Was told it could be useful." Jethro muttered, not wanting to elaborate.

"Well, its primary use is for spying on one's offspring, or as a crude paternity device." Susan informed him smirking "something you want to tell me, Jethro?"

Jethro gaped. Trying remain dignified, he replied stiffly

"Well, couldn't _you _use it? To track down your grandfather?" Susan's eyes widened, and stared at the object in her hands as if it were the most precious thing in the universe.

After hours of tinkering with it after school, and using most of Jethro's allowance to buy spare parts, Susan finally had the thing up and running. Testing it out on Jethro, they were able to get a fix on the whereabouts of his parents; they were, unsurprisingly, exactly where they were supposed to be. When turning the device on Susan, the signal was much more interesting. It picked up a very young female in the theta quadrant of Andromeda, who was marked as kin, but not direct lineage, and the only other signal was all over the place. The person was male, but the strength of the trace fluctuated and he seemed to disappear for long periods of time and reappear on the opposite end of the known universe. Jethro persuaded Susan to check out the woman. She was convinced it was a false positive, as she was certain that her grandfather was all she had left. He pointed out that it would be much easier to find someone who didn't keep disappearing and whose movements they were able to predict.

* * *

><p>Deciding that the school could use a break from them, they left on the next shuttle off world. The voyage was uneventful. Susan's looks were a cause for constant harassment, but they arrived at their destination mercifully without incident, and just in the nick of time. The unknown female relation would arrive at this space port within the next few hours, and from what they'd observed, never hung around in one place too long.<p>

They waited it out in a run down cafe, right next to the main docking port, trying to imagine what Susan's young niece or cousin or whoever would look like. The search was a lot less easy than it seemed, precious few children were to be found, and the few who were were held close to their parent and guardians. Susan kept the device scanning at all times, they couldn't afford to have come so far and return empty handed.

There was a ruckus by one of the smaller docking stations. A young blonde, about the same age as Jethro was arguing with the port authorities. It seemed that the officials were refusing her entrance, probably because she had not paid the landing fee. The girl gestured towards the pod, but the men shook there heads and levelled their guns. The blonde obviously got bored of the conversation and walked off. When they tried to stop her, she promptly disarmed the first unlucky official and shot the others in the feet. She then sprinted into the crowd, and Jethro lost sight of her. Susan pulled at his sleeve, eyes trained on the device's screen. Weaving their way through the crowd, Jethro couldn't help but notice that they were following the blonde woman who'd shot the authorities. Losing sight of her again, he breathed a sigh of relief; perhaps she wasn't Susan's kin after all. Then he remembered that the person they were looking for was a child, not a young woman. He groaned. In this crowd, finding a child was neigh impossible.

They wandered the streets, until Susan pointed to an abandoned warehouse used to store old space ships. Stepping inside, Jethro thought he saw a movement, before a sharp pain on the back of his head, and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Coming to, he noticed the blonde standing over him. Blinking a bit, he took in a rather nasty looking gun loosely held in one hand, and Susan's limp form slumped against a wall. He started to scramble towards her, but their captor raised the gun, signalling him to stay put.<p>

"Who is she?" demanded the blonde.

Jethro was confused. Normally in these situations, it's either 'who are _you_?' Or 'your money or your life'. Eyeing the weapon, he stammered out a reply:

"I'm Jethro Cane, that's Susan Foreman." The blonde's face fell.

"Never heard of her."

At this point, Susan herself stirred. Shaking her head slightly, she nodded at Jethro, who replied with a watery smile. Turning to the blonde, she rasped out, brain still a bit foggy:

"And, who are you?"

"Jenny, just Jenny. Why were you following me?"

Ah that explained it then. The girl was used to violence as the display earlier showed, so was naturally suspicious when she found herself being stalked.

"You and I have a partial DNA match, making us cousins, aunt, niece, or something."

Jethro stared, disbelieving; surely Susan wasn't going to tell their kidnapper _everything_? Jenny frowned, staring at the other blonde very closely. Comparing the two, Jethro was struck by their similarities. It wasn't the obvious things, but the more subtle ones that stood out. They were both blonde, though not the same shade. Jenny was taller, just, and had a more athletic build. Their smiles were identical and there was the same twinkle of amusement and mischief in both pairs of blue eyes.

The two women, however, were now examining each other closely. They both declared that they had never seen the other before. Each affirmed that there was something about the other they recognised, but couldn't place. Then Jenny put both her hand on Susan's chest, seemingly checking something. She held it over the left then the right side. Suddenly she jumped back and raised the gun.

"Liar" the gun didn't shake, and she stared at both of them coldly.

"Why would I lie?" demanded Susan, confused at the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Everyone knows I'm looking for my father, another long lost relative would be the perfect bait to lure me into a trap." Jethro and Susan looked at each other. This girl was also looking for someone? Susan evidently didn't like the coincidence. Jethro made a signal for her not to push it, which she ignored.

"I'm looking for my grandfather..."

"Don't, just don't. I'm leaving, before you can call in the backup." Jenny backed out of the warehouse, gun still raised. She turned to run off.

"Wait!" Susan yelled desperately. "What gave us away?"

Jenny snorted, looking at them disdainfully. "My species have two hearts. If you follow me again, I will shoot you. Good day."

She was gone before Susan or Jethro could blink. Susan sighed, slumping against the wall.

"Dead end. Told you."

"Hang on," Jethro said slowly, not listening to Susan's words of encouragement "you drew two hearts, in biology remember?

"What?" Susan looked at him as if he were mad

"When we were studying the cardio what's-it system, on your first day, it was the only thing you got wrong in the entire semester." Jethro looked at Susan's baffled face intently. Surely she remembered?

"What do you mean, my first day? We've always been at school together, and I'm pretty sure we've never looked at the cardio vascular system...actually I was going to ask the teacher about that, it's quite a gap in our education, don't you think?"

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><p><strong>Aaaand, we'll leave it there for the moment! Thank you for the reviews and alerts...<strong>

**IndigoMoose: I had completely forgotten that piece of info! I do care about continuity, which leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. Susan's head_ is_ a mess, but that doesn't stop the issue from being unimportant. ****Aside from arguing that Susan could well have regenerated (there's the Time War to consider and I believe she should be brown/black haired whereas I said she was blonde)  
><strong>**Story wise, it would be far neater for her to be in her first regeneration (with the infamous one heart as standard, no unconvincing explanations needed), so now I guess I have to choose which error is the least damaging... I'll get back to you on that. Thanks for pointing it out though!**

**Any opinions and comments on this issue and the latest chapter are greatly appreciated!**

**Swiss**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm going to sound a bit of an idiot, but hey, I am human...mostly. **

**This is after the Time War, but Susan's so messed up, she isn't even aware that there was a war, let alone that it's already ended.**

**Susan is not on her first regeneration. I think that was my intention at the beginning, otherwise I most definitely wouldn't have got her hair colour wrong. I may have forgotten that one heart was standard for the 1st life, but I'm not that forgetful. **

**Or am I?**

**Now, to clarify in case I offended anyone, the comments in the last chapter only related to how I feel about my own writing.**

**Anyway, on with the show.**

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><p>"<em>What do you mean, my first day? We've always been at school together, and I'm pretty sure we've never looked at the cardio vascular system...actually I was going to ask the teacher about that, it's quite a gap in our education, don't you think?"<em>

"You don't remember?" Jethro stared her bemused face, panic tearing at his guts

"Remember what?" Susan replied, confused.

"Never mind, what is the earliest thing you can recall?" Jethro demanded, face ashen.

"What do you mean..."

"Think, Susan, you're first concrete memory!" Jethro asked impatiently

"Waking up in hospital after that gang fight. I'm sure it's just slight amnesia from the head trauma, nothing to get so worked up about." Susan dismissed airily. Jethro ground his teeth at the way Susan batted his concern away. This was no amnesia, and her past hadn't just been erased once_. _It was still ongoing, eating at her memory. Like the way his communicator deleted old messages when the inbox got full.

He kept a close eye on her as they made the journey home. The entire trip had taken about 36 hours, but they had explained beforehand to Jethro's parents that Susan wanted to sell her flat and buy one in a less violent part of town. As far as they were concerned, Susan had gone back to show some people round, and Jethro had gone for moral support. They weren't sure if the explanation held up; after all, they had supposedly spent the night, something that wasn't really necessary.

Jethro's parents didn't say anything went they finally got home, although Biff (pushed by Val) tried to have the "father son talk" with Jethro. Susan was back tinkering on the device the next day, Val hadn't tried to approach her.

Susan's fits had calmed down; in fact, it had been almost a month since the last one. Jethro had a suspicion that the memory loss had it's hand in that, but wasn't brave enough to point it out. He'd been wrong, it wasn't exactly progressive amnesia, her memory could vary from three months all the way to half a year, but once a certain memory was erased, Susan categorically refused that the event ever happened. Her certainty drove Jethro round the bend, and he almost wished that Susan suffered more fits if it meant less amnesia.

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><p>"Right!" she declared one evening. "I've installed a hologram, this time we can see this person before heading off on another wild goose chase.<p>

Activating the machine, it immediately located the male relation and a very pale image of a man appeared, he moved around a weird control panel, oblivious that he was being watched. The hologram flickered and disappeared regularly, but it was clear enough for Jethro to make out who it was. He felt his heart race and his stomach twist in knots.

"You're related to the_ Doctor_?"

Receiving no reply, he turned back to Susan, only to find her unresponsive. Cursing, he shut off the machine, failing to see that the man was no longer carrying about his business, but glaring out of the projection.

_We've found him!... It's too late, the seal is breaking, we're suffocating, let us out!...He'll come, he has to, but it's too late..._

Susan had never had a fit this bad before, Jethro held her as she lashed out, convulsing, screaming and shrieking as she fought one-handed for release. The other arm lay almost motionless, twitching slightly as if electrocuted. Her eyes, unseeing, rolled inside her head and finally, she went limp. Hauling her body to her room, Jethro pondered what exactly would happen if someone came in and found him in this position. Susan had struggled very violently, and the living room had not come out unscathed. Susan herself had grazes, cuts, bruises... If that was the way she reacted to merely seeing a hologram of this relative of hers, well, Jethro wasn't sure what would happen if they actually met.

_Perhaps he'd be able to help_

Yeah like he did on Midnight

_You never gave him the chance_

...

_The Doctor was kind. Except when he thought that someone was being hurt or threatened. _Jethro recalled what had happened after the rescue. His friend. The emotions the two felt for each other were deep, and they just seemed to gravitate around each other. The only reason his mum hadn't gotten worse than a slap was because the friend had seen just how broken and vulnerable the Doctor looked. An understanding that deep could only be mutual on the Doctor's part. If that was how it worked for friends then family would be...?

**Ding Dong.**

Jethro didn't have time to work himself up into a panic attack, but then, he really wasn't prepared to find the Doctor waiting on his porch.

"Hello, Jethro." Whatever Jethro had been expecting, it wasn't a friendly smile and a handshake. "I'm inspecting living conditions in your neighbourhood, is this a good time?" The Doctor flashed a badge and pushed past the stuttering teenager. He wandered around the house, oblivious to the mess. He spotted the DNA tracker and raising an eyebrow.

"So that's what's been spying on me. But how did you..."

Jethro pointed to Susan's room. The Doctor looked at him confused and opened the door. He froze when he saw Susan's prone form on the bed. Jethro was about to see whether he was having an attack, when the Doctor lurched forward, screwdriver in hand. He ran it up and down her still body and muttered curses under his breath. Standing and turning around, Jethro cowered as the Doctor advanced on him, furious.

"What _happened_ to her?" His voice was a hiss, and Jethro immediately thought that it would have been a million times better if the man had shouted.

"She keeps having these fits, she'll yell and fight and then collapse with no memory..."

The Doctor looked murderous, and unconvinced, so Jethro carried on hurriedly.

"She asks for you, she says the seal is breaking and, um "we're suffocating, let us out", what does that mean?" The Doctor's eyes widened and he dashed back to Susan's side, yelling for Jethro to bring him a pen and paper. Placing Susan's hand on the implement, he bought the sheet up to her quivering limb. The pencil skimmed across the pad, light as a feather, drawing symbols and pictures, disjointed and illegible.

"I recognise those!" Jethro said suddenly, "Those marking were on the cliff face we had to study, months ago! That was her first attack!"

The Doctor sighed heavily. "It's Old High Gallifreyan, designed to get my attention. Not many people speak it any more you see. That sign there, signifies the matrix, sum of every consciousness of my people, everyone that lived, and everyone that died. No knowledge was lost. But that, that's...oh no..."

"What?"

"They've inserted a piece of the matrix inside her head. See there? Chameleon Arch. Changes biology...but why, only a Time Lord or something similar would last longer than 5 minutes with the matrix inside their head...unless..." the Doctor looked horrified

"What Doctor, what is it?" Jethro pleaded

But the Doctor wasn't listening. He knelt and Susan's bedside and grasped her temples. Jethro began to protest, but the Doctor didn't hear him.  
>Susan gasped, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her muscles contracted as she arched off the bed.<p>

"I wish to speak with Romanadvoratrelundar, Lady President of Gallifrey." The Doctor ordered, eyes tightly shut. Susan went limp again, eyes still open and unseeing.

"Former Lady President, old friend" Susan said. Her voice had changed slightly, it seemed _wistful._

"What have you done to Susan?" It was clear that the Doctor was struggling to keep a level head.

"Your guess was correct my dear, and I'm sorry, but you know what must be done."

"I can't, not again, you know I can't..." the Doctor was pleading

"Make your choice, you will lose either way." Not-Susan said, she sounded quite harsh. The Doctor severed the connection.

"What is it Doctor, what's wrong with Susan?" Jethro yelled as tears flowed down the Doctor's face. The Doctor didn't speak for a long time, Jethro waited impatiently for him to speak. Finally the man took a breath and choked

"I have to make a choice: My species or my Granddaughter."

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><p><strong>Okay I know it's short, but I lost my muse and I've been too lazy to chase it<br>I've got the last chapter roughly worked out now so it'll definitely be finished before the end of the hols.**

**Please review**

**Swiss**


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